THE END FOR THE BRITISH IN IRAQ.

''Today marks the closing chapter of the combat mission in Iraq,'' Brown said. ''The flag of 20 Armoured Brigade will be lowered as British combat patrols in Basra come to an end and our armed forces prepare to draw down.''

The British intervention in Iraq will not be remembered as one of the more glorious moments in the history of the Empire. As much as anyone, Prime Minister Tony Blair enabled the U.S. obsession with Iraq, earning the title "Bush's lapdog," and wrecking his own legacy. The expense of the Iraq War has played a key role in the deterioration of Britain's fiscal position generally and of the Royal Navy specifically; the RN is less relevant now than at anytime since the development of the modern state system. The British deployment itself was beset by problems, demonstrating none of the flexibility of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps in the face of changing circumstances. The British lost control of Basra, and essentially had to be bailed out by US supported Iraqi forces. The health of the "special relationship," which Blair's support of the Iraq War was supposed to ensure, is in greater question now more than at any point in the last 40 years. Last but most certainly not least, 179 British soldiers died in Iraq.

It was an ill-conceived contribution to an ill-conceived war, and I suspect that the British will continue to pay, in a variety of ways, for a very long time.